Mineral nutrition in plants
- Plants are capable of making all necessary organic compounds from inorganic compounds and elements in the environment
- aka ‘autotrophic’
- mineral: an inorganic element (e.g. inorganic ion from soil)
- some minerals are essential and some are beneficial
- These resources often have multiple functions in the plant
- metabolic, biochemical, structure, etc
- amount required or present varies
- Review: acquiring these resources requires and above- and belowground body plan
- plants are ‘environmental miners’
What did you find: What limits plant growth and survival?
- What resource is most limiting for plants?
- Are there places on earth that are more nutrient limited than others?
- What plant ecosystems (natural/managed) are nutrient limited?
- What is the current state of nutrient limitation in global croplands?
Resources for photosynthesis
Nutritional elements for growth
- Carbon, Hydrogen & Oxygen
95% of biomass
- Most have multiple functions
- A few are often naturally limiting
N - P - K
Mineral elements come from soil
Review: Nutrient uptake by roots
Review: Nutrient uptake via fungi
Nutrients may be abundant but not available: Nitrogen
Nutrients may be abundant but not available: Nitrogen
Cool plant adaptations
What is the most essential resource for plants?
What resource most limits plants?
- Answer: whichever resource is the most limiting
- Liebig’s Law of the minimum
- growth is dictated not by total resources available, but by the scarcest resource
- Adding N-P-K to a crop is useless if there is no calcium
Plant nutrient limitation in crop systems
